Noobie Requests Help

[bbow01]

I am working hard to learn how to use the Mission Editor.  I've read the manual and have reviewed some sample missions.  I want to creaete my first mission but am running into a roadblock.  I only have one object (a plane) on the Rhineland map (the GUIMap and the Terrain Presets agree in the Mission Properties).  I added the Translator Mission Begin MCU but it will not connect to the plane object.   If I pull up the MCU Basic Properties for the Mission Begin, nothing happens when I click on Find target or Find Object.  Am I doing something wrong?

Thanks in advance for any help.

Edited March 10 by bbow01

[AEthelraedUnraed]

You cannot connect the Translator MCU to an object (e.g. a plane). You can only connect it to another MCU.

What are you trying to do? Spawn the aircraft on mission start? Then you can either:

• check the "Enabled" box in the aircraft's Advanced Properties, or
• target-link the Mission Begin MCU with an Activate MCU, and object-link the Activate MCU with the aircraft.

[bbow01]

Thank you so much for the clarification.  This is my first experience with the Mission Editor and I'm creating my first mission (It's the equivalent of the old "Hello World" program taught in C++ classes.)  I want to create a simple "My First Mission", which would just involve a plane object flown by AI.  It would contain two MCU's (Translator Mission Begin and Trigger Timer), along with one Object (the plane).  I would link the Mission Begin MCU to the Trigger Timer MCU.  If I set the Plane Properties to "In Air" to have the mission start with the plane flying, do I need to link the Timer to the Plane object?  I apprecite the help.

[bbow01]

Another quick question.  I created a "My Missions" sub folder in the IL-2/data/mission folder.  There are 6 missions in it with their corresponding files (10 ea).  Why do only three show up in the IL-2 Missions menu when I start the game?  Why don't I see all 6 missions for selection?  Any ideas?

Thanks

 

B/

[AEthelraedUnraed]

8 hours ago, bbow01 said:

I would link the Mission Begin MCU to the Trigger Timer MCU.  If I set the Plane Properties to "In Air" to have the mission start with the plane flying, do I need to link the Timer to the Plane object?  I apprecite the help.

There are two types of links in IL2: object links and target links. Target links usually link to MCUs, object links can only link to objects. MCUs generally translate to "commands" you'd give to an aircraft. This is why you cannot link the timer to the plane directly, Think of it this way:

Connecting a timer directly to a plane, would mean: "You need to take action at 12:34." What action? Does the aircraft need to take off? Does it need to spawn? Does it need to attack something? The plane doesn't know - a time by itself doesn't mean anything.

Therefore, what action needs to be taken, is specified by the MCU. So for instance if you want to spawn an aircraft, you use the Trigger:Activate or Trigger:Spawner MCU. If you want the aircraft to fly to a waypoint, you use the Trigger:Waypoint MCU. If you want him to attack something, you use the Command:Attack MCU. Those all use object links to the aircraft, since they give a certain command (spawn, fly to, attack etc.) to an object (the aircraft).

An MCU in turn triggers whenever a target link linked to it is triggered. This can be for instance on mission start (target link Translator:Mission begin->MCU), after a certain time elapses (target link Trigger:Timer->MCU), other complex MCU logic, or even an "event" from a particular aircraft (shot down, zero ammo, bingo fuel, right after takeoff, etc.).

 

To directly answer your question (also see my previous post which is largely the same), you can either: 

• check the "Enabled" box in the aircraft's Advanced Properties to have it automatically spawn at mission start (no other MCUs needed), or
• uncheck this box, then target-link a Translator:Mission begin MCU to a Trigger:Timer MCU which in turn you target-link to a Trigger:Activate MCU, then object-link the Trigger:Activate MCU to the aircraft. This will have the aircraft spawn after whatever delay you configured in the Trigger:Timer MCU.

Both are independent on whether or not you set the spawn option to "In air" - this only controls how the plane spawns, not when.

Edited March 11 by AEthelraedUnraed

[bbow01]

22 hours ago, AEthelraedUnraed said:

There are two types of links in IL2: object links and target links. Target links usually link to MCUs, object links can only link to objects. MCUs generally translate to "commands" you'd give to an aircraft. This is why you cannot link the timer to the plane directly, Think of it this way:

Connecting a timer directly to a plane, would mean: "You need to take action at 12:34." What action? Does the aircraft need to take off? Does it need to spawn? Does it need to attack something? The plane doesn't know - a time by itself doesn't mean anything.

Therefore, what action needs to be taken, is specified by the MCU. So for instance if you want to spawn an aircraft, you use the Trigger:Activate or Trigger:Spawner MCU. If you want the aircraft to fly to a waypoint, you use the Trigger:Waypoint MCU. If you want him to attack something, you use the Command:Attack MCU. Those all use object links to the aircraft, since they give a certain command (spawn, fly to, attack etc.) to an object (the aircraft).

An MCU in turn triggers whenever a target link linked to it is triggered. This can be for instance on mission start (target link Translator:Mission begin->MCU), after a certain time elapses (target link Trigger:Timer->MCU), other complex MCU logic, or even an "event" from a particular aircraft (shot down, zero ammo, bingo fuel, right after takeoff, etc.).

 

To directly answer your question (also see my previous post which is largely the same), you can either: 

• check the "Enabled" box in the aircraft's Advanced Properties to have it automatically spawn at mission start (no other MCUs needed), or
• uncheck this box, then target-link a Translator:Mission begin MCU to a Trigger:Timer MCU which in turn you target-link to a Trigger:Activate MCU, then object-link the Trigger:Activate MCU to the aircraft. This will have the aircraft spawn after whatever delay you configured in the Trigger:Timer MCU.

Both are independent on whether or not you set the spawn option to "In air" - this only controls how the plane spawns, not when.

That was an excellent explanation.  Thank you for clearing that up.  I went ahead and created two new missions that followed your final two bullet points.  The results were the same as the sample missions that I downloaded from the IL-2 Forum (where the Mission Editor instruction manual was located).  Whne I go into the sim and select and start the mission, all that happens is that I get an image of the landscape (location dependence of the Mission Properties), with nothing else.  No plane is active.  Interestingly, this is the same thing that occurs when I try to run one of the sample missions in FME Manual - SP Missions folder under the Missions menu in the sim.  Nothing happens when I start the mission.  I know that the mission is running because you can see the trees in the landscape move with the wind.  Just no aircraft is present.  Here are pics of the Mission Editor.  By the way, I had the same results whether or not I checked enabled and just used the plane object (your first bullet point) or when I tried your second bullet point with the MCU's and Enabled box unchecked.  And I was unable to grab a screenshot using Print Screen when the mission starts.  That too is unusual since I am able to get a screen shot using Print Screen when I fly a Quick Start mission,

Thanks again for your help,

B.

[AEthelraedUnraed]

2 hours ago, bbow01 said:

Whne I go into the sim and select and start the mission, all that happens is that I get an image of the landscape (location dependence of the Mission Properties), with nothing else.  No plane is active.

Your mission logic looks mostly good to me. I spot two possible issues:

• The plane spawns at ground level (the Y in the Plane Properties - this is set at 88m. Note that the Y value designates the height above the "sea level" of the map, *not* above ground). It's likely the plane crashes immediately when it spawns.
• There is no player aircraft. The camera will likely spawn somewhere in the middle of nowhere, and float. I recommend you to add a player aircraft. This works exactly the same as with the aircraft you already have, except that you need to set the AI property in the Plane Advanced properties to Player.

When you get this mission to work, you'll notice that the AI will just aimlessly circle around. That's because it hasn't got any orders. You might want to add a simple Trigger:Waypoint MCU. Object-link this MCU to the aircraft, then add another Trigger:Timer MCU (3s or so)* and target-link this timer to the waypoint. Then target-link the timer you've already got to the new timer.

* This is to ensure that the aircraft has completed the spawning process by the time the waypoint triggers; otherwise the waypoint command will fail.

[bbow01]

Success!!

So many issues:

• Made sure both the Editor and the Sim were being run as Administrator
• I could not load the Sample Mission files in the Editor due to outdated *.msbin files.  There appeared to be a compatibility issue with the current IL-2 Version that I'm running (V7.002).  I deleted the *.msbin file from one of the missions that would not load and that did the trick.  I re-saved that mission and it created a new and current *.msbin file.
• I could not see many of the Sample Missions in the Missions menu because, duh, I did not own the Maps associated with that mission.
• I made the latest changes you suggested, such as spawning the aircraft in the air at 2000m and changing the AI plane to Player (not sure if that made a differrence).

Viola!  (see the pic below).

I can't thank you enough for your guidance.  Now it's on to doing the work to get the Mission that I'd like.  In case you are interested, here's the back story along with Forum member help on skinning.  (I just love this Forum.)

B.

Edited March 13 by bbow01

[Raptorattacker]

Personally it was a pleasure and it's good to see how well you've done. The Mustang looks great!!

Rap